


Naming

by eloquated



Series: Unexpectedly Wonderful [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Baby Names, F/M, Family Feels, Parentlock, family tree
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 12:01:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19131625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eloquated/pseuds/eloquated
Summary: The Holmes family is known for their strange names...Searching for a name for their first born, Molly and Sherlock learn a little more about his family.(Takes place after "Unbuyer's Remorse")





	Naming

**Author's Note:**

> More Sherlolly goodness! This idea has been rattling around in my head for ages, so it's nice to finally have it written! 
> 
> A special and massive thanks to [bug_from_space](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bug_from_space/pseuds/bug_from_space) for all of their amazing inspiration, and for helping me put together the Holmes family tree!
> 
> There is an actual tree, but at the moment I can't find a way to share the whole thing! But if anyone has questions, just leave them in the comments and I'll answer them! 💕

“Casteline? …  No, definitely not… Wendolyn?  No… Andromeda…? Oh  _ goodness _ ...”  

With a disbelieving frown, Molly stretched out on the floor of 221B, and gave another glance over the unrolled… well,  _ scroll _ , almost seemed like the right word for it!  What else did you call a long piece of paper, rolled carefully at each end around a long, wooden dowel? 

And there was something about the Holmes family that did lend itself to the anachronistic!

“Molly?”  

Pushing open the front door, Sherlock paused for a long moment, taking in the increasingly familiar sight of Molly Hooper (and that name would change if he had his way!  Eventually he was going to do right by her… When he figured out how best to go about it…) sprawled out in his flat.

Like she belonged there.  Where she could give him that smile when he came home, and her hideous cardigans could slowly continue their infiltration of his previously organized closet.  

Maybe not on the literal floor, however.  From the angle of her body (and a completely innocent observation!  Nothing to do with the lovely way her spine curved when she stretched, or the way her shirt had slid up a bit, baring several inches of probably warm skin)  Sherlock knew this was something she’d once made a habit of.

He’d seen it-- the way she would sprawl on her stomach on the floor, stretched out with her book propped in front of her.  Now, said stomach was simply too big for her to lie comfortably; and it looked like she hadn’t quite found a suitable alternative, yet.

Either that, or the floor was the only place big enough for her to unroll the--

_ Oh bloody Hell. _

“Molly,” He began again, his tone shifting to one of chagrin, “Why are you looking at that?”

She tilted her head, and motioned to the scroll (yes, alright, it was a scroll.  There really was no other word for it!) and the meticulously picked out family tree penned precisely on the yellowed page.  “This? Because we need to find a name for the baby. Otherwise they’re going to be Newborn Holmes forever.” 

“There are worse names.  Several on that tree, in fact.”

“Oh stop it!  We’ll find something!” Rolling her eyes, Molly sat up a little straighter, her smile undiminished by his sulking.  Even if they didn’t find any names they liked, it was fascinating to see the tree itself. Sherlock, and his relatives, and the whole sprawling collection of the family he didn’t usually talk about.

Sherlock scoffed, and the crease between his brows deepened, “So we’re back to  _ this _ .  Molly, we don’t have to choose a family name for this baby.  We can choose whatever name we like.”

“We could.  And we can. But I was curious, and your brother--’’

“Mycroft might have a surplus of nose, but he should keep it on his face, and out of our business.”

“I’m the one that asked him!  Your Mum mentioned that the Holmes family has something of a naming tradition, and I… I know it would mean a lot to her, and to your Dad, if we at least considered it.  And it wasn’t like you were being very forthcoming!”

With a creak of protesting leather, Sherlock dropped bodily down into his armchair.  From this angle, he had to read the page upside down, but it was no trouble; he could manage it.  Especially as he knew most of the names by heart. 

Mycroft was supposed to be the traditional one-- hidebound and  _ dull! _  If anyone was going to continue the Holmes habits, it should be him.  

But he hadn’t.

Which was all the reason Sherlock needed to blame him.

Crossing his arms, Sherlock scrunched up his face, and resisted the urge to prod one of the wooden dowels with the toe of his shoe. However, prudence won out: He didn’t want to have to face his mother if he actually damaged the annoying thing.

“And?”  He asked, just before the silence felt too oppressive, “What do you think?”

Molly cracked a smile, and shuffled over to the foot of his armchair, turning the scroll so they could both look at it more comfortably.  “Well, some of them are nice. Some are… A little odd. I always thought the strange names were something your parents did. I guess not.”

Sherlock snorted inelegantly, but after a sulking moment, he reached down to fidget with the soft hair that had escaped her ponytail.  “Understatement. But no, it wasn’t their idea. My mother’s family-” He waved absently towards the bottom corner of the tree, where his own mother’s family was tucked in neatly under ‘Livingstone’, “Didn’t support their choice in names.”

“Is that why you’re…”  Molly leaned back against his shins, her head tilted forward slightly to let him tug the elastic in her hair free, “Well, ‘Sherlock’ is unique.  But…”

“William is  _ pedestrian _ .  Named for my maternal grandfather.” Without a glance for the tree, Sherlock huffed a sigh that sounded almost like defeat.  Or rather, at least close enough to defeat that he was willing to consider the problem at hand. “Something else that should have been Mycroft’s.  However, my parents were younger when he was born, and feeling rebellious. So it’s the second born that’s been saddled with his grandfather’s unfortunate name.”

Logically, Sherlock knew it would be easier to just tell her the truth.  That he had a name in mind. That he had from the start. But saying it aloud?  That admission of sentiment?

No.  No no.  He simply had to find a way to convince Molly, without her discovering the truth.

“I rather like Rose.”  She suggested, one hand pressed over her belly for stability, as she reached out with the other to tap the far side of the page. “Rosemary Livingstone, right here.”

“Aunt.  Vile.”

“Jane?”

“... Great aunt, and raised my father.  But she married Thomas Marple- so, not a Holmes.”

“That’s a technicality!  Did you really have a relative named  _ Lucifer? _ ”

“My grandfather’s cousin.  Apparently great-great Aunt Ophelia had quite a sense of humour; that’s why she inflicted  _ ironic _ names on all of her children.”

Sherlock just smirked, unhelpfully.

“Giles?”

Sherlock started, and beetled his brows down at her, wearing an expression like she’d suggested they name their child ‘Bob’, or ‘Gus’.  “No.  _ Absolutely  _ not.  We are not naming our child after my cousin, the world’s most miserable vicar!  Besides. Those are both on my mother’s side, and that would defeat the purpose of keeping up a  _ Holmes _ tradition.”

Ducking her head, Molly batted away his fingers when they tightened unconsciously on her shoulder, and tried (quite unsuccessfully!) to suppress a giggle, “Ok, ok!  Not Giles… Maybe after your father?”

“No.”

“Victor?”

“No cousins!  Besides, Victor and I already look  _ more  _ than enough alike, without naming my child after the git.”  

“Martin?”

“No!”

“Seraphina?”

The pinched edges of Sherlock’s mouth softened at that suggestion, and he paused for a long moment in consideration.  “My... Father, would be very touched if we did that.” He finally admitted, “He was quite close to his brother and sister.”

_ Siger, Seraphina and Rudyard Holmes _ .

Now they were both gone, and Siger didn’t need to speak of them for Sherlock to know that he missed them. 

“Naming children after dead relatives is macabre.”  He stated bluntly, and fixed his gaze down on the family tree.  Just because a child had been given their name, didn’t mean they would have his Aunt Sera’s easy brilliance, or her way of explaining things in a way that made sense to a confused little boy.

They wouldn’t have Uncle Rudy’s sharp wit, or his sense of style.  They wouldn’t be the uncle that had draped his silk shirts over Sherlock’s shoulders, and let him use the brightly coloured, beaded fabric as an adventurer’s cloak.

It was the thinnest excuse, and when Molly reached up to squeeze his hand, he knew she hadn’t fallen for it.  But she didn’t mention it either, and when she slid up into his waiting arms, he was grateful for her tact, and the living warmth of her against his chest. 

Sherlock had known that having a child would change his future-- but he hadn’t realized how much it would change his view of the past.

“I never knew you had such a big family.”  Molly admitted as she curled into his lap, and nuzzled a kiss reassuringly against the side of his neck.  “It’s hard to imagine you and Mycroft running around with your cousins as children.”

“We didn’t.  Not... Often.  Giles was usually confined to the house by his mother. Too afraid he’d get dirty, or skin his knees.  And Victor, Stephen and I...” With a slow huff, Sherlock rested his hand over the heavy swell of Molly’s stomach, smoothing back and forth in search of the occasional restless shift or kick.  It was strangely soothing. “We got on, if we had a project. Mad science, Mummy called it. Otherwise we were at each other’s throats… Mycroft usually played mediator.” He added with a slow smirk.

“So that’s where he gets it from!  It sounds like you were quite the trouble!”

  
“Younger brother’s prerogative.  Otherwise he would have gotten old before his time.”

With his chin resting on Molly’s head, Sherlock looked down over her shoulder at the family tree taking up half his living room floor. He knew the right name was on it; the one that had latched onto his mind, and ran through his thoughts whenever he imagined their child-to-be.  “I… Had thought. Perhaps. Ulysses. Wouldn’t be..  _ Entirely _ … Terrible.”

Molly followed his line of sight, until she caught the name written beside his own on the tree.

_ Mycroft Alexander Ulysses Holmes. _

“You want to name our son after your big brother?”  She asked softly, the corners of her mouth curving upwards.

“No, of course not!  No. It’s a good mythological name.  Nothing else. Just a fine… And it was my grandfather’s name.  My parents would be very happy. And it’s traditional. And we could call him Ollie-- which is sort of similar to Oliver, which you liked, and I didn’t.”  Sherlock could hear the rush in his voice, and the amusement in Molly’s when she pressed a kiss to their joined fingers.

Damn, and extra damn.

“If it’s a boy, maybe after both of our brothers?”  

“Ulysses Maxwell Holmes.”  Sherlock threaded the names together under his breath, testing the weight of them on his tongue.  He hadn’t expected the knot in his throat, or the strange emotion that bubbled up in his chest. 

“We... Won’t have to tell Mycroft, will we?”  Because God knew he would never live that down.  Better for both of them if they never had to acknowledge that Sherlock had decided to name his first born after his big brother.

Molly laughed against their fingers, and shook her head.  “No. We don’t.”

He’d find out on his own the day his first nephew was born.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Rose & Violet are inspired by the show 'Keeping Up Appearances' (Though I was kind enough not to inflict a Hyacinthe on them!)  
> 2\. Jane Marple is one of Agatha Christie's detectives (If you haven't seen the 2004 'Murder At The Vicarage', it's very very good!)  
> 3\. Rev. Giles Shawcross is from the 'Midsomer Murders' episode, 'The Sword of Guillaume'.  
> 4\. Andromeda is from Greek mythology.  
> 5\. The mad scientist Victor is... Frankenstein, of course!  
> 6\. Martin Crieff, is from 'Cabin Pressure'.  
> 7\. Stephen is Victor's twin brother, and goes by Stephen Strange, instead of Frankenstein (which is actually his middle name).  
> 8\. Lucifer is from the Lucifer Box novels.


End file.
